Getting married? Try keeping up with the Patels

Compiling a wedding list is no small task. Yet buying from that list, when the surname of the married couple is Patel, could prove to be an even bigger task.

The Patels have topped the table for extravagance, a survey of more than 10,000 wedding gift lists shows.

Researchers looking at the wedding list preferences of people with the four most common surnames found that couples named Patel asked guests to buy £5,000 plasma screen televisions, Royal Doulton crockery and top of the range fridge-freezers.

Couples named Jones, meanwhile, tended to choose cheaper gifts such as hammocks, champagne buckets and coffee makers, with a £500 barbecue the most expensive item asked for.

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There was also something in a name when it came to the Smiths and the Cohens.

Future Mr and Mrs Smiths, the department store John Lewis found, asked for home-making items such as sofas, board games and microwaves, suggesting they might prefer a cosy night in to painting the town red.

Mr and Mrs Cohens, meanwhile, gave the impression of being domestic gods and goddesses, requesting items such as fondue sets, Le Creuset pans and egg poachers from their wedding guests.

Kerry McCulloch, the head of gift lists at John Lewis, said the surname trend was surprising and "a bit of an eye-opener".

"Lists have been changing quite drastically over the past few years," she said, adding that although the traditional crockery remained, people were having a lot more fun with their choices.

In the late 1950s, items such as winceyette blankets and wooden washing tongs featured on the gift list, replaced in the 1960s by Pyrex dishes and bone china dinner sets, the research showed.

In 2005, said Ms McCulloch, the Patels were "the top end, crème de la crème".

"They are by no means shy and they are certainly looking to the luxury items in life as opposed to the kitchen basics," she said.

Amar Singh, the editor of the weekly Asian newspaper Eastern Eye, said: "It doesn't surprise me that the Patels are leading the way in this.

"About 10 years ago, if an Asian couple getting married had a gift list it would have been a big cause for gossip but times are changing so much now. The Patels are a very business-savvy community and tend to be very progressive members of the Asian community."

In the past, the bride would have moved in with her in-laws, he said, but now young Asian couples were often moving in to their own house together.

Prof Richard Scase, a specialist in demographics and the author of Britain in 2010, said he was not surprised at all by the gift list findings.

The Patels engage in giving and sharing, he said, because of their extended family structure. "The giving of gifts is a token of respect to the other family members."

Their gift choices were marked by "conspicuous consumption rather than functionality".

Prof Scase added that the difference could be explained by the fact that Indian families did a lot of entertaining, cooking extensive meals for large families.

He said the gift choices of the Cohens could also be explained in terms of extended family and the family meal.

"Preparation of meals and sharing of food is a way of sharing hospitality and respect for others," he said.

So what of the Joneses, who nobody needs to keep up with any more? Ms McCulloch said: "I think they need to make a bit of a comeback. They need to be a little bit more adventurous."